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I believe respect is the answer for moral world through the unity of all the races in the field of arts. Together, with mutual respect for our difference, we can create a world filled with empathy for one another. Red, Yellow, Black, and White our hearts all beat in same rhythm for peace and a better life, in arts.

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

CONSERVATORS ALSO OPPOSE PLAN TO SIDELINE BERLIN’S OLD MASTERS

Conservators also oppose plan to sideline Berlin's Old Masters

One of world's greatest collections to be replaced by
Modern art

By Julia Michalska. Web only

Published online: 03 August 2012

Conservators in Germany
have joined the protest over plans to relocate the world-famous collection of
Old Masters in Berlin's
Gemäldegalerie. Under the Stiftung Preussischer Kulturbesitz's (Prussian
Cultural Heritage Foundation) plan, the estimated 3,000 works will move into
the much smaller BodeMuseum to make way for
modern art including the collection of Ulla and Heiner Pietzsch. Any Old Master
that cannot be displayed in the smaller space will go into storage for an
estimated six years until a new space is found for the collection on the
capital's MuseumIsland.

The move, which was announced at the beginning of July,
poses a “significant conservation risk”, said a statement released by the
Bonn-based Verband der Restauratoren (Association of Restorers) on 19 July. The
association, which has around 2,500 members, argues that the Pietzsch
collection should move into the Gemäldegalerie only when a suitable location
has been found to accommodate the Old Masters. “Only then can transport be
reduced and the possibility that large parts of the collection will disappear
into stores for years be avoided,” the statement said. “Any handling, packaging
and transportation—even within the building—means mechanical stress and
climatic changes to the works, which weakens their substance.”

Around 12,000 people, including Prince Georg Friedrich of Prussia, have
signed a petition against emptying the Gemäldegalerie of its Old Masters. The
petition was set up by Jeffrey Hamburger, an art historian at HarvardUniversity.
Earlier, the Verband Deutscher Kunsthistoriker (Association of German Art
Historians) wrote an open letter to Germany's minister of culture,
Bernd Neumann, protesting “vehemently” against the plans. But the Bundestag has
already made €10m available for the renovation of the Gemäldegalerie, setting
the wheels in motion for the move.